Rack for cooling freshly galvanized pipe



Dec. 18, 1956 o. R. OLSON RACK FOR CdOLING FRESHLY GALVANIZED PIPE FiledApril 22, 1955 NW NW m 5 0A B United States Patent O RACK nonCOOLINGPIISEESHLY GALVANIZED Oscar R. Olson, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application April 22, 1953, Serial No. 350,371

2 Claims. (Cl. 198-84) This invention relates generally to apparatus fortreating articles such as for cooling coated articles or permittingnewly made articles to set and more particularly apparatus for retainingfreshly coated or new articles until they have set or their coat hascooled sufliciently to solidify and permit handling.

When making resinous plastic rods and tubes or when coating articlessuch as in galvanizing, tinning, or other similar coating, the handlingof freshly produced products give rise to many problems. If the articlesare immediately handled or stacked, the hot coating is scraped or rubbedotf or they stick together causing a rupture of their surfaces thusdefeating the purpose of coating. Such articles have to be re-treated ordiscarded. It is not advisable to recoat galvanized products withoutrecleaning the article such as by pickling.

It is desirable to retain the freshly'coated articles in alignment andspaced from each other to avoid any rupture of their surface or stickingto each other until after their coat becomes hardened by cooling orsetting.

It is also desirable to receive the articles in substantially the sameinclination that they are being handled or delivered to prevent nickingor otherwise bumping the surface by letting the articles drop ameasurable distance.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of apparatus forreceiving freshly formed or coated articles in substantially the sameinclination that they were being treated and with minimum contacttherewith and to carry or store said articles in spaced relation for asufficient period of time to permit their coatings to become fixed suchas by cooling or solidifying to permit handling and stacking. This maybe accomplished by means of a movable rack which can be constructed inthe form of a ferris wheel having individual pockets in which thearticles are carried. If there is insuflicient elevation, the rack maybe in the form of a longitudinal storing means which carries thearticles in a circuit or shoves them by an abutment to move or roll eacharticle along a predetermined distance until it is ready for handling.If the article has an angular surface such as a square bar, it may becarried and rolled intermittently. If the structure is cylindrical insuch a pipe, it may be rolled along the skidway by bumpingintermittently or by a moving abutment. The rolling action of a coolingarticle prevents the newly made article or a coated article from takinga set in one direction due to its being pliable because of lack ofsetting time or due to the heat retained by the article depending uponthe character of the article.

Ordinarily it is not necessary to convey the articles to anotherlocation during this treating or cooling cycle so the rack may dischargethe articles at substantially the same place as originally receivedthem. Thus, these racks merely retain the article a suflicient length oftime to permit them to be air cooled or cooled by a blast of cold airand at the same time revolving them to prevent their taking a set due tobeing pliable because they are Patented Dec. 18, 1956 "ice 2 a soft frominsensible heat. The rolling of cylindrical articles aids in retainingtheir shape. i

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the followingdescription and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplificationwithout limiting the invention or claims thereto certain practicalembodiments illustrating the principles of the invention wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the cooling rack comprising thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of the left end of Fig. lshowingthe,

charge and discharge end of the cooling rack comprising this invention.

Fig. 4 is a view of the opposite or right end of the rack illustrated inFig. 1 showing a transfer mechanism for delivering the articles from theupper to the lower level of the rack.

Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the pusher. 7

Referring to the drawings, the cooling rack consists of the side framemembers 1 and 2 that. are formed by a series of vertical posts 3 tiedtogether by the cross brace members 4 joined by the center gusset plates5 and the upper and lower gusset plates 6 and 7. These sides are bracedwith one another by the knee braces 8 that are fastened from the poststo the upper cross members 10 as shown in Fig. 3, which carries theupperflight of articles. One end of the frame has the cross braces 11 asshown in Fig. 4 which are also provided with gusset plates joining theparts. 5 j

Intermediate cross membersfIZ together with the cross members 13, 14,and 15 connect the side frames to brace the structure and carry thearticles along the lower flight.

The cross members 10 and 12 support the longitudinal channels 16 and 17for the top flight and the channel guides 18 and 19 for the returnflight of the top pusher. These channels carry the pusher or drag chain20 provided with upwardly projecting abutments 21 that roll the articlesuch as the tube 22 along the rack before the abutment.

The drag chains 20 travel over the independently mounted sprockets 23and 24 at the left or receiving end and the sprockets 25 and 26 on asuitably journaled shaft 27 at the right end of the top flight. Thisshaft extends beyond the side frame 1 and is provided with the sprocket28 that receives the drive chain 30 that passes over the idler sprockets31 and 32 in turn and over the driver sprocket 33 on the shaft 34journaled in the lower flight.

The shaft 34 extends across the frame and is provided with spacedsprockets 35 and 36 which carries the chains 37 and 38 that are similarto the chains 20 and have similar abutments 21. The chains 37 and 38travel in the upper channels 40 and 41 to the left end of the rack wherethey pass around the sprockets 42 and 43 mounted on the shaft 44 that isjournaled in the side frames in the same manner as the other shafts 27and 34. The channel members 40 and 41 may slope downwardly to the leftin Fig. 1. The chains 37 and 38 pass down around the sprockets 42 and 43and return throughthe channel guides 45 and 46 to the sprockets 35 and36 at the right end of the rack.

The shaft 44 extends beyond the frame 1 and is pro- 1 22 that areretrieved f niaghetie'rolls 54 and 55 so; and 'urei'rop mart are "areenuress' drag mains 20' through the sprockets 25 and -26. This drivestarts at the delivery end of therack and extends to the loading end.

Thearti'cles hahdled areindicafed by thefpipe 'setiohs t or *spfel te rtank by the dother similar rolls ,iriiaking up a series. These: rollsar'ej 'supported fromjthe 'frarne V thatmay be mbviifrwmthe vicinity ofthe tank or lack.

kettle and are laid o'n th'e'finclin'ed slope of the 'ra 'cl;

e sa e hor zon a1 plane which is also'showniin Fig. 1; The'tube sm arecarried aro nd the sproektszs a d against the guide tracks 57 and '58which heon 'the j't'oplflight bf the lowerset of 4 where the chains 37and 38 move V the ttibf e along these channels to "the discharge thatper- 7 mits them to roll in turn onto the storing table 60 or' anyotherfor rn of storing or loading device. The channels 40 and141slopeslight1y to -the left to augment the rolling of the tubes by thepusher.

'In its' travel along this rack, the tube 22has beenreturnedtosubstantially the same point that'it' was loaded on the rack Thejtubehas been rolled or pushed along cooling of the particles. The speed oftheir removal and trolled 'to properly, treat these articles. a a

T, the speed of their circuittthrough the rack may be con-' V formed bythe, disposition of the topjcha'nnels 16 a'rid17 which slope downwardlytoward {the right as shown in skids'orfch'annfel members are declined Vf and not pernii t'tedto take a set or rest sufiiciently to draw I thecoating all to one sidebut kept uniform with a mini- :surfa ceengagement, namelyg the upper edges of "the fch'annel s, 3 This providesfor controlled setting or The amnesia-a9 be "ti-eaten by" a blast or airfrom the 7 'means along said tra el; levels havingispaced abutments' Vto shove separated "pi'pe'sectioiis from the' receiving to the Idischarge station and causing the pipe sections to rotate due to theirfrictional contact with the track to maintain 7 'a uniform distributio'hof theg'alvanize before it coolsn a and hardens, said upper track levelbeing disposedon a lateral slope at the pipe receiving'station andhorizontal.

at'said transfer end, wherebyfto drain any excess. galvanizin'g "fluidjfron the rotating j'pipe sections andito match the intilination of thepipeseetion'swhen delivered at the receiying'stationr 2;Thefst'ruc't'ure :of claim 1 characterized in that the track on the'uppe'r'level s'lopes from said pipe receiving end to said transte'rend. a 1 V Rereaicas citea iii-the file of this atent i UNITED "ST TESPATENTS 1,178,166 McCue Apr. 4,' 1,283,949 .Stevenson Nov; 5, 1,499,619Kiefert July '1; 19 24 1,923,886 'Ray :Aug. 22, 1933 1,940,978 7 SnowDec. 26, 1,933 2,612,706 Simpson Oct. 7, 1952 lengths of freshlygalvanized 'Everha'rt Nov. 18, 19 52

